This is a low

Bummer. Walthamstow has closed.

famous five thingee

WTF?

i had a notion to write about the above this morning, thinking "famous five thingee" would be enough to remind me what i wanted to write about.

funny how work gets in the way.

if any one has any ideas, feel free to suggest them....

Your brain on "Shuffle songs"

Nope.
Nope.
Nope.
Nope.
Hm.........
Nope.
......Nope.
Hm.........
Nope.

Things you think about when you're being held in priority sequence...

We are in the era of fiddling. Behold:

• FM Transmitters that kinda work, sorta. Apart from cel phones, the biggest sham ever perpetrated on the ipod-buying public. Want some static with that song? Just enough to annoy the fuck out of you while you're trying to stay awake on the 401? There's plenty of models to choose from.
• iPod synching. Just try to squeeze one more song on there. Go ahead. I dare you.
• Any technology-related tech support. No one is looking forward to helping me get the best out of my router. (Hello, Linksys...helloooooo). If my call was so valuable, why is this my third fucking try? Why should I even NEED to know my fucking router IP address?
• How did my keyboard switch to french? WTF?

Teak oil really stinks. But it works wonders.

I like peaches.

Now even the tech sup....port....mu.....si....c....n.nnn..nneeeeeds tech...supp.....ort...

The Pizza Pizza guys always get my address wrong. Why is my order outsourced to India when the place that bakes the friggin thing down the street?

I'm not putting in the time to make this worthwhile. At least I don't think so. what do you think? Helloooo...Linksys...

Words I like

Possibly inspired by my one-day writing course.

• askew
  
• astride
  
• infandous
  
• lugubrious
  

more to come, probably...but don't hold your breath.

Never use a longer word...

The latest evil trend in marketing lingo: "complimentary" instead of "free."
Hors d'oeuvres are complimentary. So are magazine subscriptions. Events are not.

Armchair Visconti: What I DID like about The Dark Knight

• Heath Ledger's performance. Everything the Joker could and should be. It's like he's in a better movie running alongside this one and he shows up every now and again to show people how it's done.
• The first 20 minutes. Lean and mean, their success is betrayed by what comes next.
• Russian Ballerinas. 'nuff said.
• Bruce Wayne's Armani suits.
• Lamborghinis.
• Lucius.
• The batmobile saying "Goodbye" just before it blows up.
• Trucks flipping over.
• Operation Skyhook.
• Disappearning pencils.

Armchair Visconti: What i didn't like about The Dark Knight

First, a disclaimer: These only matter if you're concerned about a separate but related discussion about whether TDK should be considered a Good Comic Book Film, or a Good Film. To my mind, Lord of the Rings (pick any one) belongs in the latter. TDK belongs in the former. A snooty distinction, but it's what I do to amuse myself.

All plot, no story. As if Christopher Nolan said to himself, "If i put this many scenes about duality and darkness together, it will add up to a cool movie," rather than "What does an exploration of these themes look like and how would they play out among these characters?" Memo #1 to Mr. Nolan: You are not the next Hitchcock, sorry to say. UPDATE - come to think of it, I'd venture to say Christopher Nolan doesn't really understand characters. Or storytelling. What he does understand is plot mechanics. Consider Momento, or The Prestige. His movies are elaborate and intriciate constructions. They look great, have great casts, but they have no soul.

Clumsy fight scenes. Memo #2 to Mr. Nolan: Go watch the russian bath fight scene in Eastern Promises. Repeat as necessary.

Clumsy action sequences. This I found particularly odd, since the big chase scene in batman begins had at least as many vehicles moving around. Memo #3 to Mr. Nolan: Go watch any / all of the following to see how to stage action setpices:

• The French Connection
• Ronin
• Ben Hur
• Face/Off
• Terminator 2, Aliens or any James Cameron movie that has large metal things smashing into each other.
  

Aaron Eckhart's performance. Pains me as it does to write this, seeing as i saw the guy in London while he was still shooting, but I didn't believe his performance as the do-gooder. So, cool makeup aside, I didn't buy his transformation. Sorry dude, you were better in Thank You for Smoking and, if it makes you feel any better, you were the best thing about Erin Brockovich.

That's cruel...

probably late to the game on this one, but I guess we know now that's not all Steven Page would buy if he had a million dollars.

A baseball movie

Derek Jeter, from way, way up....I think this was in the 7th inning. I'm not sure if this breaks copyright. If it does I'm sure I'll find out.